Chapter 16 — Exercises: Follow-Up, Referrals, and the Long Game

Work these with a pen and your real (or future) CRM open. The doing exercises in Part C matter most — they become components of your portfolio.

Difficulty legend: ⭐ basic · ⭐⭐ applied · ⭐⭐⭐ synthesis/judgment · ⭐⭐⭐⭐ advanced/extension

Part A — Conceptual Understanding ⭐

  1. In one sentence, state this chapter's threshold concept and explain the "before/after" shift in how a salesperson sees the job.

  2. What does CRM stand for, and why does this chapter call it "the only thing you truly own" in this career?

  3. List the touches in the unsold-prospect cadence in order, with the rough timing of each.

  4. List the touches in the sold-customer cadence (the long-life sequence). Which one does the chapter call "the most profitable phone call you'll make"?

  5. Define equity in a vehicle, and define equity mining in your own words.

  6. What is an orphan customer (orphan owner), and why are orphans specifically a gold mine for a new salesperson?

  7. The chapter says follow-up "works precisely because almost nobody does it." Explain the reasoning in two sentences.

  8. What single change makes a referral ask go from weak to strong? Give an example of each (weak vs. strong) in your own words.

  9. Name the three pillars of a personal brand from §16.7, in the chapter's rough order of return-on-effort.

  10. True or false, and why: "You should call a customer before their CSI survey arrives and ask them to give you all tens." (Be careful — there's an honest version and a dishonest version.)

Part B — Applied Analysis ⭐⭐

  1. The reset problem. Rick and Carmen both sell ~11 and ~26 cars in a given month, but the chapter says they're living completely different lives. Explain, using the idea of "starting at zero," what's actually different about their two businesses on the first of the next month.

  2. Diagnose the dead pipeline. A salesperson complains: "I work just as hard as Carmen but my income is a rollercoaster — great when the lot's busy, terrible when it's slow." Based on this chapter, what is almost certainly missing from their practice, and how does fixing it address the rollercoaster specifically?

  3. The value-touch test. For each of these follow-up touches, label it value touch or nag touch, and if it's a nag, rewrite it into a value touch: - (a) Day 2 to an unsold prospect: "Hey, just checking in again, did you decide yet?" - (b) Day 7 to a sold customer: "Hi, a week in — anything not sitting right with the car? Happy to fix anything." - (c) Day 4 to an unsold prospect: "Hi — I found that AWD comparison you asked about and a similar unit that just landed under your number. Want me to send both?"

  4. Why the no-pitch calls? A manager tells a new salesperson to make 1/7/30/90-day check-in calls with "no selling at all." The salesperson protests that those calls "don't make any money." Explain why the no-pitch calls are exactly what makes the later equity-mining call profitable.

  5. Spot the line. For each, say whether it's ethical follow-up or a line you don't cross, and why: - (a) Calling a past dealership customer whose salesperson quit, to introduce yourself as their new contact. - (b) Calling a coworker's recently-sold, still-active customer to "check in" and slide into the relationship. - (c) Calling before the survey to genuinely surface and fix any problem. - (d) Calling before the survey to say "anything less than a perfect ten really hurts me — please call me instead of filling it out if you can't give all tens."

  6. Earn-then-ask. A salesperson ground a customer hard on price, rushed the delivery, and never followed up — then, six months later, called to ask for referrals. Predict the result and explain it using the "earn it, then ask it" principle.

  7. Two best moments. The chapter names the two best moments to ask for a referral. Name them, and explain why each works psychologically (think about where the customer's goodwill is at that moment).

  8. The orphan vs. the peer. Your manager hands you a list of accounts to "reactivate." Two of the names turn out to be customers a coworker sold last month and is still actively working. What do you do, and why? What would have happened to your standing on the floor if you'd just started calling them?

  9. The negative-equity call. Not every sold customer is in a positive equity window. You discover a customer who is upside down (owes more than the car is worth) and is unhappy with their vehicle. Is this an equity-mining opportunity? What's the honest thing to do — sell them out of it anyway, or something else? (Hint: think about theme #3 and what serves the customer.)

  10. The "do not call" customer. A sold customer tells you politely on the 30-day call, "Honestly, I'd rather you didn't keep calling me — I'll reach out if I need something." How do you handle the rest of their cadence? Does "follow-up is the business" mean you call anyway?

Part C — Skills & Practice ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

  1. Write your unsold-prospect cadence. Draft, in your own voice, the actual messages for all five touches (same-day text, Day-1 call opener, Day-2–3 value touch, Day-4–5 soft ask, and your "moving to long-term nurture" note). Use a realistic composite customer with a name and a specific detail. Make sure every touch gives or asks something.

  2. Write your equity-mining call script. Draft the call you'd make to a sold customer you've discovered is in a positive-equity window. It must: lead with "nothing's wrong," frame the equity as information they're entitled to, remove pressure, and end with a no-obligation offer to run the numbers.

  3. Calculate the equity-mining math. "Marcus" bought a truck 3 years ago: financed $40,000** at 6.4% for 72 months (payment ≈ **$670/mo). His loan balance now is about $23,000**; the truck appraises at **$26,500. (a) What's his equity? (b) The current-year truck he'd want is $44,000**, and you can get 6.9%/72 (payment on $44,000 alone ≈ $748/mo**). If you roll his equity in as down payment, what's the new amount financed, and roughly what's the new payment? (c) In plain English, what would you tell Marcus? Show your steps.

    Answer (a) Equity = value − payoff = $26,500 − $23,000 = **$3,500 positive equity.** (b) New amount financed ≈ $44,000 − $3,500 = **$40,500**; at 6.9%/72 that's roughly **$688/mo** (about $748 × 40,500/44,000). (c) "Marcus — you've actually got about $3,500 of equity in the truck right now because used-truck values are strong. That means I could potentially put you in a brand-new one, full warranty and latest tech, for around $688 a month — only about $18 more than your current $670. No obligation, but I didn't want you to not know the window's open. Want me to run the exact numbers?" Note: real payoff and rates vary; always pull the actual figures.

  4. Write your referral ask — both moments. Draft (a) your delivery-peak referral ask and (b) your anniversary-call referral ask. Both must be specific (give the customer concrete buckets to search), explain that you're really doing their friends a favor, and end by making it effortless to act on.

  5. Role-play the orphan-owner call. Write the full call you'd make as a new salesperson to an orphan owner whose salesperson left. It must have a legitimate non-salesy reason to exist, offer to be useful, and set up an equity-mine. Then write the two-sentence message you'd send your sales manager to request a batch of orphan accounts.

  6. Audit a (real or imagined) CRM record. Take one customer record (a real one if you have access, or write a realistic one). List everything that should be in it per §16.2 — and circle what's missing. Then write the single most important field most people skip, and fill it in for this customer.

  7. Build your one-week follow-up schedule. Lay out a realistic Monday–Saturday plan showing, for each working day, how many follow-up touches you'll make and which lists they come from (unsold prospects from the last week, sold customers at 7/30/90 days, orphan owners, equity candidates). Make it something you could actually sustain on a busy day. Total it up: how many touches per week, per month, per year?

  8. The second equity-mining calculation. "Dana" leased a compact SUV 33 months ago on a 36-month lease; the lease matures in 3 months. Her residual value (the pre-set price to buy it at lease-end) is $19,000**, and the same SUV is selling used right now for about **$22,500. (a) Does Dana have equity in her lease, and how much? (b) In plain English, what are her three options at lease-end, and how would you frame the "trade the equity into a new lease or purchase" option honestly? (c) Why is a maturing lease one of the warmest equity-mining calls of all?

    Answer (a) Yes — a lease has equity when the car is worth more than the residual buyout. Equity ≈ market value − residual = $22,500 − $19,000 = **$3,500.** (b) Three options: (1) **turn it in** and walk away (she'd be leaving the $3,500 on the table for the leasing bank); (2) **buy it** for the $19,000 residual (instant ~$3,500 in value, good if she loves the car); (3) **trade the equity** — use that $3,500 as a down payment toward a new lease or purchase, often keeping her payment similar on a brand-new vehicle. Honest framing: "Dana, your lease is maturing and you're actually in a nice spot — the car's worth about $3,500 more than your buyout price, which is yours to use, not the bank's. Let me show you all three options so you can pick what's best for *you*." (c) Because a maturing lease is a *guaranteed* in-market date — you know exactly when she must do *something* — and equity makes the trade-up easy. Residuals and values vary; pull the actual lease contract and current value.

Part D — Synthesis & Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐

  1. The compounding argument. Using the §16.8 long-game math, write a short argument (a paragraph) you could give to a brand-new salesperson who is discouraged that follow-up "doesn't pay off for years." Address head-on the "what good does it do me in year one?" objection.

  2. Ethics-as-profit, in follow-up. Theme #3 says the ethical move and the profitable move are the same move. Pick two specific guardrails from this chapter (e.g., not coaching the survey; honoring referral rewards; not poaching) and explain, for each, how the unethical version actually costs you money over a career — not just morally, but in dollars.

  3. Where does the brand line sit? A salesperson buys ten fake five-star Google reviews to jump-start their reputation. Argue why this is both unethical and a bad business decision, using this chapter's claim that a personal brand "cannot be faked for long" and "is earned the same way referrals are."

  4. The flywheel vs. the treadmill. In your own words, explain the difference between "selling cars" and "building a business," using the Rick-vs-Carmen comparison table from §16.8. Then make it personal: which one are you currently set up to become, and what one habit would move you toward the flywheel?

  5. Design a touch you'd actually keep. Most follow-up systems fail not because they're wrong but because the salesperson can't sustain them. Design a realistic minimum version of the sold-customer cadence that you personally could keep every single week for five years even on bad weeks. Defend your cuts — what did you keep and why, what did you drop and why?

  6. The delayed-reward trap. The chapter argues follow-up is rare because it's "delayed, invisible, and boring," and that human beings are wired to chase immediate rewards. Design a personal system — concrete, not motivational — that makes the delayed reward of follow-up feel more immediate to you (e.g., how you'll track it, reward it, or make it visible). Why is "just try harder / be more disciplined" not a real answer to this problem?

  7. Whose customer is it, really? In Case Study 16-2, a competing dealership's salesperson equity-mined Rick's own sold customer (using a third-party data service) and won the trade-up. Argue both sides: in what sense was the customer "Rick's," and in what sense had Rick forfeited any claim to them? What does this tell you about what a sold customer actually is until you follow up?

Part M — Mixed / Interleaved Practice ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

  1. Delivery → follow-up (with Ch 15). Take the Nguyen family delivery from Chapter 15. Write the first three follow-up touches (Day 1 note, Day 2 text, Day 7 call) that turn that delivery into the start of the referral flywheel. Reference at least two specific things from the delivery (e.g., the third row, the phone pairing) in your touches.

  2. Closing → referral ask (with Ch 14). Chapter 14 taught that a close collects a decision rather than creating one. Write a short paragraph explaining how the referral ask in this chapter follows the identical logic, and why both fail if the upstream work (fit / a good experience) wasn't there.

  3. Objections → equity-mining resistance (with Ch 13). You make an equity-mining call and the customer says, "I'm happy with what I've got, I don't want a new car payment." Treat this as an objection (a request for information, not a "no"). Diagnose what they're really worried about, and write a response that respects the answer while making sure they understand the actual numbers.

  4. Mindset → follow-up as resilience (with Ch 6). Chapter 6 said slumps are usually activity drops in disguise, and to control inputs, not outcomes. The lot has been dead for two weeks and you're sliding into a slump. Write a daily follow-up input plan (specific number of calls and which lists) that keeps your activity up and your pipeline filling despite zero floor traffic. Explain how this directly attacks the slump mechanism.

  5. Customer types → tailored follow-up (with Ch 3). The five customer types each respond to different things. Choose two types (e.g., the relationship buyer and the researcher) and describe how you'd adapt your follow-up and referral approach for each — same cadence, different emphasis.

  6. The whole loop (with Ch 1). Chapter 1 said the deal is a loop, not a line, and the new-car sale is often the loss-leader that opens a relationship the whole store monetizes. Explain how your follow-up is the mechanism that lets you personally (not just the dealership) capture the lifetime value of that relationship.

  7. Needs analysis → equity-mining notes (with Ch 8). During the original needs analysis, a customer mentioned they were "making this one work for now, but in three years when the baby's older we'll want something bigger." How does capturing that one sentence in your CRM at the time of sale set up a perfectly-timed equity-mining call three years later? Write both: the CRM note you'd log today, and the call you'd make in three years that references it.

  8. Delivery → reviews → brand (with Ch 15 and Ch 4). Chapter 15's complete delivery creates a peak-goodwill moment; Chapter 4 covered your online presence. Write the exact words you'd use at the delivery peak to ask a thrilled customer for a Google review that names you — and describe how you'd make it effortless on the spot (the link, the timing). Then explain how 50 such reviews change what happens when a referral searches your name before calling.

Part E — Research & Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐

  1. Tour a real CRM. Find out which CRM your dealership (or a dealership near you) uses — VinSolutions, DealerSocket, Elead, or another. Research (or ask) what its equity-mining / data-mining feature is called and how it flags trade-up opportunities. Write a half-page on how you'd use it in your first 90 days. (Describe the tool honestly; don't invent features you can't verify.)

  2. The economics of retention. Across many industries, it's commonly cited that retaining and re-selling an existing customer costs a fraction of acquiring a new one. Find a reputable source discussing customer-retention vs. acquisition economics (a marketing or business publication), summarize its core claim, and connect it to this chapter's 900-customer long-game math. Hedge any specific statistic you can't fully verify.

  3. Review platforms and trust. Research how Google reviews (and dealer-review platforms like DealerRater or Cars.com reviews) influence car-buyer decisions, and what the rules are about soliciting reviews honestly (e.g., Google's policies, FTC guidance on endorsements). Write a one-page, ethics-first plan for building 25 genuine, salesperson-named reviews in a year.